Cutting machine



Mam}! 1931. A. E. COLLINS ET AL CUTTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 21, 1928 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 In zzeni'ors: Ari/2 uZ'Z'. Coll :mg, m Step/0e22 -D. J'TcLauy/zlin,

,Zy w W MM Ai'lya.

March 24, 1931. A. E. COL$LINS ET AL CUTTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 2 1, 1928 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 An a.

March 24, 1931. A, E. COLLINS ET AL CUTTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 21, 1928 6 Sheets-Sheet I jnuenianr: Ant/Lu? Z: C0 Z Z insf} 55907261217. JTQZ my]; Zin, 39 /M W W v M March 24, A EDYCOLUNS ET L CUTTING MACHINE MarchZ4,1931. T A. E. COLLINS Em 1,797, 3

CUTTING MACHTNE Filed Jan. 21, 1928 6 Sheets-Sheet 6- Inventors: Ari/210 i. Collins, Sitepizen DJYcLazgiz lin,

,by' W @wf 997% M A Patented Mar. 24, 1931 V UNITED STATES ARTHUR E. COLLINS AND STEPHEN D. MoLA'UGI-ILIN, OF AKRON, OHIO, ASSIGNOES, BY

ASSIGNMENTS, T MILLER RUBBER COMPANY WARE, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE 1nd, or WILMINGTON, DELA- our'rme MACHINE 7 Application .filed January 21, 1928.

Our said invention relates to means for automatically cutting a continuous web or slab of material into predetermined lengths and is more particularly designed for en"- I ting tread slabs produced by the process disclosed in an application filed on the 18th day of February, 1928, though not limited to such The invention also aims to provide improved means for feeding the material through the machine to co-operate with the cutter and in a manner to prevent injury to the stock. 7

With these, and other objects in view which will be apparent from the following specification, the invention includes the novel construction and arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described anddefined by the appended claims.

lVhat we at present consider the preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawingsin which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine partly broken away.

Figure 2 is a view of the opposite side seen in Figure 1 with parts broken away.

Figure 3 is an end elevation of Figure 1, looking toward the left.

Figure 4 is a top plan view partly broken away. 7

Figure is a sectional plan of the base portion and associated mechanism.

Serial No. 248,399.

direction at right angles to the plane there- 0 Figure 9 is a detail sectional View ofithe roller drive.

Figure 10 is a detail-elevation of the measuring cam and sprocket.

Figure'll is'a fragmentary detail side View of the cam.

Figure 12 is a detai'lsec'tio'nal View through the main clutch, showing associated parts.

In the cutting machine which forms the subject matter of this application the cutter operates intermittently upon a correspondingly intermittently fed portion :of" a continuous Web or slab coming from a continuous supply. means or source and fed to the intermittent moving means through the intermediary of a slack loop. In the present drawings the web or slab to be severed is indicated at A and a portion of the slack.

loop at A '(Fig. 1) the supply means being omitted as forming no part of the present invention.

The rising portion A" of said slack loop is led to a conveyor belt 1, by which it is conveyed to the cutting mechanism, such belt passing around-an idle pulley or drum 2 supported on a suitable pedestalor frame 3 at a desired distance from the cutting mechanism, and also around a driving drum 4 and idle guide drums 5 and 6-. The upper portion or run of the belt is preferably supported against sagging by idle rolls 7*. supported by frame members 7. The drums i and 6' are so positioned relative to each other that the portion A of the stock is supported by the belt in an inclined position (preferably at an angle of approximately and after leaving the belt the web or slab passes to a series of supporting rollers 8 and 9 which support the stock in the same inclined plane and enable it to be severed by the transversely moving intermittently operated cutter 10 as hereinafter described.

The severed blanks A are delivered to an endless conveyor 1 by which they-may be conveyed to any desired. point. Said belt is driven by roller or drum 80 which in turn is driven by sprocket chain 81 passing around cally operated shifter fork 17, against the pressure of spring 17a. Said shifter fork is mounted on the upper end of a vertical rock shaft 18 (Figs. 1, 3 and 4;) the lower end of which shaft carries an arm 19 provided with a roller 19a coacting with cam means carried by shaft 12 whereby the web feeding means is automatically started and stopped. In order that the length of the feeding period may be varied and thus different lengths of blanks cut from the web (for making different sized tires for example) we prefer to make the cam means adjustable and of the construction which will now be described.

Sprocket wheel 13 is preferably formed as an annular toothed ring bolted to the inner face of a carrier member 13a (Fig. 6) keyed to Shaft 12.

To the outer face of said carrier member 13a are secured a pair of cam rings and 21 preferably of substantially L shape in cross section, seated in annular rebates in the carrier member (or the strengthening ribs 13?) thereof). Cam ring 21 is a floating ring (when released) and has its vertical portion lying behind the outer peripheral portion of ring 20 when the latter is clamped to carrier member 13a by the bolts 21a which pass through elongated openings in the vertical portion of flange of thering. The juxtaposed laterally projecting portions 20?) and 21?) have an aggregate width corresponding to the width of the peripheral face of roller 19a and are provided with relatively high and low parts. By loosening bolts 21a ring .21 may be adjusted circumferentially to any desired extent to determine the relative lengths of high and low part. In other words, if ring 21 is adjusted so that its high part coincides with high part of ring 20 the high part is reduced to its smallest linear dimension and the low part correspondingly increased which gives a minimum period of dwell in the stock feed,'and maximum period of feed which results in the moving of the maximum length of blanks. Circumferential adjustment of ring 21 increases the aggregate length. of high cam partand reduces the length of low part ac: cording to extent of movement, and thereby reduces the period of feed of stock and produces shorter blanks.

In order to accurately determine the length of blank to be cut, one of the rings, say 21 is provided with graduations to indicate linear units of measurement, such as feet, as mdicated in Fig. 1.

To insure the stock always coming to rest at precisely the same point. relative to the line of severance without undue strain on the mechanism due to suddenly checking it on release of the clutch 16, I provide the following mechanism:

Shifter lever 17 is provided with an arm or extension 17 b which is connected by a link or rod 22 with the one arm of a lever 23 of the first order located on the opposite side of the machine (Fig. 4:), the other end of which lever carries a shifter fork 23a operating the movable member 24a of a clutch of the positive or interlocking type. The co-operating clutch member 24?) is loose on the shaft 11 but held against axial movement thereon, and said member 246 has affixed thereto an arm 25, one end of which is connected by tension spring 26 to a fixed abutment which tends to hold it in the position shown in Figure 2 or to return it thereto if moved upwardly from said position. Said arm is also connected by a lengthwise adjustable rod 27 with the swinging arm 28 of a fluid check of the door check type sho\.\: conventionally in said figure at 28a. When the clutch 16 is uncoupled and checking clutch 24a, 24b engaged the inertia of the mechanism tends to or causes an overthrow of the shaft which is yieldingly resisted by the spring 26 which automatically imparts a sufficient amount of counterrotation to the shaft,

against the resistance of check 28a to bring it to rest at the precise point required.

Shaft 12 heretofore referred to is preferably driven from a worm wheel 29, Fig. 6 in the manner hereinafter described which meshes with a worm 30 (enclosed in gear case 31) fast on shaft 32 driven from any suitable prime mover (not shown). Such drivemay comprise a chain and sprocket drive (see right of Fig. 2) the chain 33 of which may be driven through a Reeves variable speed drive (not shown). A clutch is provided at 34 preferably of the friction type the shifter fork of which is mounted on a rock shaft 35 carrying an arm 36 Fig. 1 connected by rod 37 to an arm 38 fast on rock shaft 39 which carries two hand levers 40 disposed on opposite sides of the machine so that an operator on either side may throw out the clutch and stop the apparatus when circumstances render this necessary. As hereinbefore indicated, the web or slab is fed past the cutter in an inclined plane which, in connection with the vertical position of the cutter, produces blanks with beveled edges which is desirable for tread stock as enabling a proper junction of the ends upon application to a tire carcass. After leaving the inclined portion of the belt conveyor the stock or web passes over driven rollers 8 and idle rollers 9. all disposed in a plane coincident with the inclined portion of the belt conveyor.

Rollers 8 are shorter at one end than rollers 9" and carry sprockets 8 which are all. en-

gaged by a sprocket. chain 41 which passes around sprocket 42011 the shaft 11.

The cutter 10 of the rotary disk. type has itsshaft: journaled in a carriage 43 provided with upper and lower sets of grooved rollers 44-4'5 respectively which engage with track rods 46 extending transversely of the machine.

The carriage supports an electric motor 47 which drives the cutter shaft through reducing gearing indicated at 48 (Fig. 1)' prefcrably inclosed in a gear casing. Current is led to the motor through a flexible cable, from an overhead sourceof' supply. I

For imparting reciprocating movement to the carriage we employ a sprocket chain 50 Fig; 3' which has oneend' attached to one end of the carriage (say right hand end Fig. thence passes around an idle guide sprocket 50a, a drive sprocket 51 in the form of a depending loop, thence over guide sprockets 52 to and around idle sprocket 50?) on the opposite side of the machine, and to the opposite end of the cutter carriagev towhich it is connected.

Drive sprocket 51 is fast on a short shaft 49 jOIH'HfilGCi in a suitable fixed bearing fork (Fig. 2) which shaft carries a beveled gear 52a which meshes with a bevel. gear 53 fast on the upper end of a vertical shaft 54% journaled in fixed bearings.

This shaft 5 1 has fast on its lower end a gear or pinion 55 meshing with an oscillating rack segment 56a-carried by an arm or quadrant '56 pivoted to oscillate about axis 567). Quadrant 56a has aroller 560 which engages a cam groove 57 a, in a cam member 57 fast on shaft 58 (Figs. 2" and 5') which shaft is driven by spur gears '59 and 60 from shaft1'2 (see Fig. 5). 4

Cam groove 57a has two concentric portions, one relatively near the axis and one remote, and while the roller is traveling in these concentric portions, no movement is imparted to the quadrant, these periods corresponding to the dwell of the cutter carriage at each side of the web, while the movement across the web in one direction is caused by the travel in the cam groove from the inner concentric portion to the outer and vice versa. The manner in which the oscillations of the segment. or quadrant produce the reciprocations of the knife carriage will be .o hvious from the operating connections above described and further statement thereeration To this end we provide a series of Y yielding presscr fingers 61, Figs. 1 and 2,

mounted on carriers 62 fast on transverse rock shaft 63 which is provided with a rigidly attached arm 64 connected by rod (elbow) of lever 66 carries a roller which coacts with a cam 67 designed'to. move. the),

presser fingers, through the connections de scribed, towards and from the web in synchronisin with the intermittent movement of the web;

WVe find it is advantageous to appiy lubricant to the cutting disk which facilitates its action on unvulcanized rubber- For this purpose. we provide an oil box 68 extending transversely acrossv the machine. above the path of the cutter, which box or trough has a bottom of oil absorbent material provided with a slit or channel which receives the edge of the cutter disk as it travels back and forth. Said oil boX is supplied with oil from tank 68.

We have found that in a machine of this character, if the clutch 16, which is inv effect a measuring clutch, is engaged with the shaft running at the relatively high speed necessary for quantity production, the fine teeth soon become broken- To avoid this. we provide means by which the entire machine will be stopped momentarily between the cutting of the slabs and automatically restarted, allowing the measuring clutch to be engaged, while. free from driving strain. To

thisend we provide the following mechanism.

\VOI'HI wheel'29" is keyed to a supplemental shaft member 12a (Fig. 6) which preferably is providedat one end with a recess in which the end of the shaft member 12 is rotatably seated. Said end of shaft member 120. carries fast thereon a clutch member 70 of the jaw or toothed type which cooperates with a companion clutch member 71 carried by a sliding sleeve 72 having a splined engagement with shaft 12. r

Said sleeve carries at the opposite end an,

annular flange member 73 which is acted uponby spring means, such as indicated at" 7360, tending to force the clutch members into interlocking engagement. These clutch members have relatively few teeth which can therefore be made of requisite size and strength to prevent any danger of breakage when connecting the continuously driven shaft portion 12a with intermittently driven shaft portion 12.

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Shaft portion 12a carries an annular cam member 74 which is provided with a plu-' rality of lands or raised portions 74a and intervening depressions, five, for example.

A short shaft 75 (Figs. 3, 5, and 12) is pivotally mounted'in brackets 76 parallel to shaft 12 and carries fast thereon a pair of arms 77 and 78, the former of which underlies the cam 7d and is provided with a roller 77a designed to ride on the lands of the cam and enter the recesses there between, said shaft also carrying a weighted arm 7 9 whichtends'to hold the roller 77a in contact with the cam. The other arm 78 carries a roller 78a journaled on a vertical axis which cooperates with a dog 7 2a carried by the clutch sleeve 72.

As the cam 74 rotates, driven by the shaft member 12a, the roller 77a rides on one of the lands and arms Wand 78 are swung sufficiently to cause roller 7 8a to clear the dog 72a, whereupon springs 7366 will push clutch member 71 into engagement with clutch member 70, causing shaft member 12 to be driven from member 12a. The flange 7 3 will bear against the vertical roller and as the clutch sleeve rotates the dog 72a will clear said roller, whiehwill at once be moved by the action of the counterweight into the position shown in Fig. 6, at which time the roller 77a will enter one of the recesses of cam 74. Thereafter the inclined or cam face a of dog 72a contacts with roller 78, causing clutch sleeve 72 to be moved to the left, Fig. 5, against the pressure of the springs, and the clutch members 71, to be disengaged.

The parts are so arranged and proportioned that during the engagement of the clutch members 7071 the machine makes one complete cycle of operations.

The cam 21 is so designed and the parts so arranged that when clutch part 71 is withdrawn from part 7 0 the ring 21 will stop at such a position that the roller 19a is-just at the end of the high part of ring 20 and ready as it were. to fall over the precipice.

The roller 19a is urged toward the ring 20 by reason of spring 17a, and this together with the inertia of the moving parts is sufficient to cause the roller 19a to drop off the end of the cam, thereby releasing and engaging the measuring clutch 16 at a time when the clutch members 70-7l are disconnected.

Thereupon, on continued rotation of shaft connected and the stock severed as herein- .1 before explained.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is I 1. In a machineof the class described, intermittently operated web feeding means, and means included in said web feeding means for permitting a yielding overthrow of said web feeding means and for returning the same after each overthrow to the normal advanced stopping position.

2. In apparatus of .the class described, web feeding means, including an .operating shaft, driving connections thereto including a clutch, means for automatically operating said clutch at determined intervals, means for checking the movement of saidv operating shaft including a movable clutch member loose on said shaft, a clutch member fast on the shaft, yielding means acting to restrain said loose clutch member against rotation,,

means whereby said loose clutch member is caused to engage the fast clutch member when the first above named clutch is operated.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 on which the loose clutch member carries an arm;

that is operativ'ely connected to a fluid pressure checking device.

4. In a cutting machine, web feeding means including an endless conveyor belt and a plurality of supporting rollers providing,

a support continued in the plane of the delivery portion of the belt, means for intermittently moving said belt and rotating said rollers, and intermittently operated cutting means including a disk moving transversely.

one of said rollers and means are provided.

for movingthem towards and from the roller in synchronism with the feed.

7. Apparatus according to claim 4, in which means is provided for applying lubricant to the cutting disk during its travel across the web.

8. A web cutting machine comprising a conveyor belt having an upper conveying run provided with an inclined terminal portion, a pluralityv of rollers located in the plane of said inclined portion, certain of the rollers adjacent the belt being driven rollers and the remainder idle rollers, means for imparting intermittent movement to said belt and driven rollers, a disk cutter mounted to traverse the web in line with the space between two of said driven rollers, and conveying means for receiving the severed blanks from said idle rollers.

9. In a cutting machine, web feeding means, means for intermittently operating said web feeding means, including a measuring clutch, intermittently reciprocating web cutting means, powermeans for operatingsaid web feeding means and reciprocating said cutter means, clutch means for connecting and disconnecting said power means,and means for causing engagement of the members of the measuring clutch after the members of the second mentioned clutch have been disconnected.

10. In combination, web feeding means, means for intermittently operating said web feeding means including a measuring clutch, intermittently reciprocating Web cutting means, power means for operating said web feeding means and reciprocating said cutting means, means for automatically momentarily disconnecting said power means after each cycle of operation, and means for causing engagement of the measuring clutch during such power disconnection.

11. In combination, web feeding means, means for intermittently operating said web feeding means including a measuring clutch and adjustable cam means for operating said measuring clutch, intermittently reciprocating cutting means, power means for operat: ing said cam means and for reciprocating said cutting means, and means whereby said power means is momentarily disconnected from said cam means and cutting means at the end of each cycle of operations.

12. In combination, web feeding means, means for intermittently operating said web feeding means including a measuring clutch and adjustable cam means for operating said measuring clutch, intermittently reciprocating cutting means, power means for operat ing said cam means and reciprocating said cutting means, and means whereby said power means is momentarily disconnected from said cam means and said cutting means at the end of each cycle of operations, including a two part drive shaft, one part having opgating connections to said web driving and cutting means, and the other power means, clutch means for connecting and disconnecting said shaft parts, and means operated by said power driven shaft part for momentarily discomiecting said clutch at the completion of each cycle of operations.

13. Apparatus according to claim 12 having its power shaft provided with a fixed clutch member and an encircling cam member, a slidable clutch carrying sleeve keyed on the driven shaft and yieldingly pressed towards said fixed clutch member, a rock shaft having an arm provided with a contact part yieldingly pressed into engagement with said cam, a dog fast on said power shaft having a circumferential contact part and inclined cam part, and a second arm fast on said rock shaft and having a contact part cooperating with said dog.

14. A web-feeding and cutting machine comprising a member engaging the web for advancing the same, forward-drive means for the Web-engaging member, backwarddrive means for the web-engaging member, and means for periodically disconnecting the forward driving means from the Work-engaging memberand connecting the backwarddriving means thereto, the backward driving means comprising yielding means adapted to have potential energy developed therein by the over-run of the web advancing means.

15. A web-feeding and cutting machine as defined in claim 14, in which the forwarddriving means includes two clutches in series and means for disengaging the clutch op-' eratively nearer to the source of power and holding it disengaged while the other clutch is being engaged.

16, A web feeding and cutting machine comprising a member engaging the web for 

